An Old Command

1john2.7

1 John 2:7–14 ESV

7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. 13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. 14 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

What does it mean to be New at something? It could mean that we are talking about something that didn’t exist before or that we are talking about something that replaces something else that previously existed.

Think about a New driver… What are the implications for a student that is a new driver? They need to learn the laws of the road. They are going to make mistakes. We need to know who they are so we can have patience with them if we are going to share the road with them. We certainly are not going to ask them to drive long distances for and length of time, until we are sure they are getting enough practice.

While they may be new to driving, driving is not a new thing. Many people have been driving for many years before they even attempted to sit behind the wheel. However, they are new to this whole driving thing, so they are a new driver.

How about a New Car? We could be talking about a brand new, right off the showroom floor vehicle that no one has ever driven before. A NEW car...

Or we could be talking about a previously owned vehicle that we just purchased. It isn’t NEW by age, but it is NEW to US.

How about someone who restores Old cars? If they are really good at it, we would say, “Wow this is like a NEW car”. even though it is old, it is like it’s new.

As I have entitled this sermon an OLD Command, we see from the text that it is a New command that is actually Old. What I mean is this… When the Apostle John says, “new”, he is not referring to new in the sense of time, but rather something that is fresh in quality, kind or form. This kind of New is something that replaces something else that is worn out.

John uses a word play here to illustrate his point, let’s dive in to see how it applies to us.

1 John 2:7–8 ESV

7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

1john2.7

Now John is not crazy here… “I’m not writing you a new command, but I actually am writing you a new command...”

He is trying to illustrate something. He is trying to show how they are in step with what God has already said. He is going to encourage the Family of believers in a very optimistic way, but first he needs us to see that what we couldn’t do before, we can do now. So what is old is now new… IN HIM and IN YOU...

His illustration of darkness passing and Light already shinning is not just a contrast but a picture of light coming in and driving out darkness. So let’s focus on this New command and Old command phrase and see what it means.

Of all the commands we have in scripture, some are commands that once the Gospel comes into the picture they are now abolished. So we must be talking about an old command that is now being made new IN Him and In Us too...

Well if we read the rest of John letter here and his subsequent letters we will know rather quickly that this command is the command to Love. And specifically to love God and each other. And this is not New but very old.

Deuteronomy 6:5 ESV

5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Leviticus 19:18 ESV

18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19:18 ESV

18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Deuteronomy 6:5 ESV

5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

duet

So every Jew would’ve known these commands very well. And yet in the sinful struggle of humanity, no one is able to keep these commands, Yet they are not NEW in the sense that people have never heard them before. They know these commands… They know the standard is to Love.

The Old command is to Love God and Others

Everyone has this innate awareness that we should Love God and we should love others. God’s law tells his people this explicitly. There is never a way out of knowing that you are supposed to Love God and Others.

Yet the Gospel says that we do not love God and others… We are actually God’s enemies and hate God before he changes our hearts by his Spirit. So this Old commandment is one that causes us a lot of tension, because it points out our own sinfulness. We fail at loving God and others as ourselves. That is the old command.

So how are these things New then? In what ways are these old commands made new?

“The commandment of love was “new” because Jesus personified Love in a fresh, new way and it was shed abroad in the hearts of believers” John MacArthur

So Jesus is the living version of this Love that they were commanded to have, and now this Love is alive in our hearts by his Spirit.

Romans 5:5 ESV

5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

And because this love is in us we now have an awareness of this OLD command. And this awareness teaches us to follow God’s Law and hold his standards.

1 Thessalonians 4:9 ESV

9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,

This church is being encouraged because they are acting like they know God by loving each other.

This is how that Old command is being made new. It is something that John did not come up with by himself either… Jesus who is love personified shared it with his followers as a new command, even though it is old… look...

John 13:34–35 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

john13

Jesus tells John and the rest of the disciples here, this is a new commandment… To Love each other. As they were loved By Jesus, who is God, they are to love each other. So as God loves us we are to love each other, and this is to be how people know we belong to him!

So the Old commandment is a new one in Christ!

The New commandment is to Love each other as Jesus loved us!

Notice that our love is shaped by his Love First! We cannot love without first knowing he loves us and experiencing that Love in the forgiveness of our sins.

What was an Old commandment that was impossible to fulfill is now made new in Jesus, and we can fulfill it because we have experienced it. We can love each other because in Christ God forgave us, so we can overlook the things we don’t want to overlook.

And this is a process that takes time but grows as we know Him… that is why he said in verse 8

1 John 2:8 ESV

8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

It is true in Him… Christ… and in us who are in Christ...

Because darkness is Passing… it is fading… why? the True Light is already shinning! Jesus’ love is filling us and we are showing it to each other.

The Old commandment is a new one that we are now able to experience.

But John doesn’t just leave it there. Remember he is trying to help Christians know they belong to God and not listen to false teaching. So How will they know when someone is teaching false even when they are using some scripture? Well he gives us more than an illustration or word picture, he points to those who were teaching false hoods and how they treated believers… Look at the next couple verses.

1 John 2:9–11 ESV

9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

1john2.

Now if you do not remember 1 john 1 vs 5, John told us that God is Light! He has gone on about abiding in Christ in both his gospel and this letter. So it should be plain now what he is saying...

If you say that you know God, that you are in Christ or the Light… but you hate your brother, you are not in Christ at all… you are still in darkness.

This is simple teaching… If you are in this room and you hate someone else in here because of something they have said or done to you, then you have a reason to question the genuineness of your faith.

Why?

Whoever loves his brother Abides or lives in Christ or the light. In that person there is no stumbling, he is not in darkness. But conversely if you hate your brother you are walking in darkness and you do not realize where you are headed.

True believers love each other

See this understanding of how an old commandment is a new one that they must SEE is really a true test of a believer. Do you love your brothers and sister in Christ? Jesus said this is how the world will know we belong to him… Jesus personified Love and his people must show that same love.

Now that does not mean that we do not point out Sin in people lives when we preach the Gospel. It would be unloving to see someone with visible sickness and disease and not say anything to them. Yet if you tell them and they don’t listen and you start to hate them, you are walking in darkness.

Story of Jeanette George...

We do not hate Sinners because we were once one of them… We cannot expect people who are in darkness to see their problem, so we lovingly point it out to them while praying that God would open their eyes and the Spirit would illuminate their sight to see it and believe.

But for us who claim Christ and are walking in Light and truth… we love each other. So we do not hate other christians who don’t believe the Doctrines of Grace, we do not go picking fights with people who picket our church… We pray for them. We do not agree with people who walk in darkness and their life choices, but we do not hate them, we pray for them. And lord willing God will save them and they will be here with us, and we all will be following an old commandment that is a new commandment.

So, the Apostle John is writing to this big family of believers and trying to show them how false teachers do not fit and how they can know they belong to God, and what their lives should look like...

But he goes on to encourage them like a good pastor would encourage his flock.

1 John 2:12–14 ESV

12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. 13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. 14 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

1john2.

Now what we need to know is that when it seems like someone in the Bible is repeating themselves, that is because they really want us to hear what they are saying and not miss it.

John addresses 3 different age groups here. Children, Father, and young men. This is not because he is actually talking to kids under a certain age, and teenagers up to a certain age, and fathers only… Rather he is showing that whatever stage of walking in the light or following Jesus you are at… a New Believer, or someone who has been walking with the Lord for a couple year yet is not mature, or someone who should be in a mature position in his faith… He is wanting to encourage us all no matter where we are at.

So first the newer believers...

You need to be encouraged because you know your sins are forgiven… and Not just for any old random reason. your sins are forgiven FOR HIS NAME SAKE! It is not because we are good or deserve to have our sins forgiven… and anyone who is new to the Faith is excited to know their sins are forgiven and that it is by pure grace that they are forgiven.

And he goes on to say to the Children of the faith here, that they know the Father!

All you really need to know at first is that your sins being forgiven makes much of God not you!

The Forgiveness of sins makes much of God not you

New believers do not have a lot of answers but they love to tell everyone of the Savior who forgave them. Newbies love to tell people they love Jesus, and we should encourage such love to be shown and said often! Because it makes much of God who saves for his purposes and his glory!

But John also writes to fathers here. meaning he is now talking to older more mature believers who should know something of their God… They know him who is from the beginning. and he says it twice the same way.

What does he mean by that? You know him who is from the beginning.

It is like he is saying you older saints know God, you have heard it all how he created everything and how Jesus came and made all things new.

Your perspective is one of how the Old commandment is really a new commandment and has always been that way. Your maturity points you to God and you don’t forget how he is always in charge.

Yet that word KNOW here means you recognize him, you are aware of him. It means the knowledge you have of him comes from personal experience… You KNOW him who is from the beginning.

and finally the young men… or the slightly more immature believer...

They are actively engaged in overcoming the evil one. They are full on in pursuit of God by his word because they are struggling with sin and needing to overcome the enemy. So the Word that abides speaks of the sound doctrine that helps them overcome. John is encouraging them that the fight ahead will be won and they will reach a place where like the mature father they will have a spiritual maturity that is to know God in his fullness.

So, how do we respond to all this?

Well if you are a believer and you are dealing with hateful thoughts in your heart toward another believer, you need to repent. To walk in light is to love each other and we are loved by Christ.

If you are new to the faith, you have a basic awareness of your forgiveness and that makes much of God. If you have been around for a little while you have now moved on to needing sound doctrine and Gods word to help you overcome what Jesus defeated for you. and for those who are more mature, your deep knowledge of God and all the treasures that we posses in Jesus Christ our Lord should bring stability to your life.

Adn yet we all no matter where we are at need to remember that the old command of loving God and others is a new one that we walk in to this day!

Question 1 - How is the old commandment made new in Christ?

Do you understand the old commandment to Love God and others as yourself? Why was it impossible for people to follow. Do you understand that we can only love each other as Jesus loved us first? In what ways does Jesus show us love, and how does that help us to love each other?

Question 2 - Can a true believer walk in darkness and hate his brother?

Can you hate your brother and still be walking in the light? Do you understand that light exposes our own sin? Do you understand that seeing your own sin will help you deal with others who have sinned against you? Does it make sense then that those who wont look at their won sin can’t respond to other with the same love because they haven’t experienced it yet?

Question 3 - What stage of walking in the light are you at?

Tale a few moment and think about your life. How is your walk with the Lord? are you confident because you know God who is from the beginning? Are you just happy to be forgiven? are you actively pursuing God By his word and seeing your life overcome the evil one? I wonder if we have people from all different stages in our groups and they can all learn from each other. The Mature believer need the excitement from younger believers. and those who are caught up in pursuing God and sound doctrine in a effort to continue to overcome the evil one need to be reminded that our doctrine isn’t our savior, but we need to know him from the beginning. The true is we are better together than we are alone.

A final though from Augustus Toplady

“How vast the benefits divine

Which we in Christ posses!

We are redeemed from guilt and shame,

and called to Holiness”

How rich a treasure we posses in Jesus Christ our Lord!